Telepsychiatry Netiquette: Connect, Communicate and Consult

Globally, telepsychiatry has been around since the 1950s. It is in the COVID era that it has gained the relevance and much-needed momentum amongst mental health care professionals. Given the restrictions imposed by the global lockdown owing to the fear of contracting the virus, the ease of access and safety offered by telepsychiatry makes it both appealing and “the new normal.” Despite some hesitation from mental health professionals, there is adequate research to support the role of telehealth services in the management of various mental health disorders. As with any formal system, the practice of telepsychiatry is regulated by professional guidelines to show the way forward to both health provider and seeker. The manuscript examines the ways telepsychiatry is redefining our virtual conduct. It emphasizes the evolving “netiquette” needed to navigate online consultations. It also elucidates the challenges faced by health professionals, and possible ways of maneuvering and circumventing the same. Telepsychiatry, a dynamic process which is interactive and personalized, adds a third dimension to the practice of modern medicine. It is here to stay. So, it is not a question of “if” instead “how soon” we can adapt to and get conversant with this revolutionary mode of connection, communication, and consultation, which will make all the difference.

Download Full-text

Professionals harnessing experiential knowledge in Dutch mental health settings

Mental Health and Social Inclusion ◽

10.1108/mhsi-08-2021-0054 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Simona Karbouniaris ◽

Alie Weerman ◽

Bea Dunnewind ◽

Jean Pierre Wilken ◽

Tineke A. Abma

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Experiential Knowledge ◽

Research Approach ◽

Content Type ◽

Action Research Approach ◽

Mental Health Settings ◽

Four Levels

Purpose This study aims to explore the perspectives of mental health professionals who are in a process of integrating their own experiential knowledge in their professional role. This study considers implications for identity, dilemmas and challenges within the broader organization, when bringing experiential knowledge to practice. Design/methodology/approach As part of a participatory action research approach, qualitative methods have been used, such as in-depth interviews, discussions and observations during training and project team. Findings The actual use of experiential knowledge by mental health care professionals in their work affected four levels: their personal–professional development; the relation with service users; the relation with colleagues; and their position in the organization. Research limitations/implications Because of its limited context, this study may lack generalisability and further research with regard to psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as perceptions from users, is desirable. Social implications According to this study, social change starts from a bottom-up movement and synchronously should be facilitated by top-down policy. A dialogue with academic mental health professionals seems crucial to integrate this source of knowledge. Active collaboration with peer workers and supervisors is desired as well. Originality/value Professionals with lived experiences play an important role in working recovery-oriented, demonstrating bravery and resilience. Having dealt with mental health distress, they risked stigma and rejections when introducing this as a type of knowledge in current mental health service culture. Next to trainings to facilitate the personal–professional process, investments in the entire organization are needed to transform governance, policy and ethics.

Download Full-text

Mental health professionals’ perceptions on patients control of data sharing

Health Informatics Journal ◽

10.1177/1460458219893845 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 2011-2029 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Julia Ivanova ◽

Adela Grando ◽

Anita Murcko ◽

Michael Saks ◽

Mary Jo Whitfield ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Information ◽

Data Sharing ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Health Data ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Timely Access ◽

The Impact

Integrated mental and physical care environments require data sharing, but little is known about health professionals’ perceptions of patient-controlled health data sharing. We describe mental health professionals’ views on patient-controlled data sharing using semi-structured interviews and a mixed-method analysis with thematic coding. Health information rights, specifically those of patients and health care professionals, emerged as a key theme. Behavioral health professionals identified patient motivations for non-sharing sensitive mental health records relating to substance use, emergency treatment, and serious mental illness (94%). We explore conflicts between professional need for timely access to health information and patient desire to withhold some data categories. Health professionals’ views on data sharing are integral to the redesign of health data sharing and informed consent. As well, they seek clarity about the impact of patient-controlled sharing on health professionals’ roles and scope of practice.

Download Full-text

Attitude of Non-Mental Health Professionals Towards Mental Illness in a Tertiary Care Center

INDIAN JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH AND NEUROSCIENCES ◽

10.32746/ijmhns.2019.v2.i2.23 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (02) ◽

pp. 23-28

Author(s):

Nishad P. M. A. ◽

Dilshana N. B. ◽

Anil Kakunje ◽

Ravichandra K. ◽

Kamran Chisty

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Psychiatric Illness ◽

Positive Attitude ◽

Care Center ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Primary Objective

BACKGROUND Mental and behavioral disorders are major health problems. Stigma can prevent the care and treatment of the mentally ill. There is a gross underestimation of psychiatric comorbidities among patients by non-mental health professionals. A positive attitude of these health professionals has a crucial role in the treatment of patients suffering from psychiatric illness. The primary objective of the study is to study the attitude of various nonmental health professionals towards mental illness. METHODS It is a crosssectional descriptive study, conducted in a private medical college in Mangalore, Karnataka in India. The study had 76 participants consisting of doctors and nurses. Instruments used were a semi-structured demographic proforma and Mental illness: Clinicians Attitude Scale - Version 4 (MICA-4). MICA-4 is a 16- item scale used for assessing attitude towards mental illness. RESULTS The total number of subjects included was 76 among which doctors constituted 57 and nurses 19. As the experience and age of the participants increased, a shift to the positive attitude towards psychiatric illness was noted. Specialist doctors had a higher positive attitude compared to non-specialist medical graduates and nurses. CONCLUSIONS It is essential to have structured training in psychiatry for all health care professionals.

Download Full-text

Attitude of Non-Mental Health Professionals Towards Mental Illness in a Tertiary Care Center

INDIAN JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH AND NEUROSCIENCES ◽

10.32746/10.32746/ijmhns.2019.v2.i2.23 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (02) ◽

pp. 23-28

Author(s):

Nishad P. M. A. ◽

Dilshana N. B. ◽

Anil Kakunje ◽

Ravichandra K. ◽

Kamran Chisty

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Psychiatric Illness ◽

Positive Attitude ◽

Care Center ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Primary Objective

Download Full-text

“Of Course I’m Depressed, but Do I Have Depression?”

The Group ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190649562.003.0010 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Donald L. Rosenstein ◽

Justin M. Yopp

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Major Depression ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Clinical Depression ◽

Obsessive Compulsive ◽

Loved One ◽

Long Time ◽

The Difference ◽

School Of Social Work

What’s the difference between being very shy and having social phobia? Or between a “neat freak” and a person who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder? Or a particularly fidgety schoolboy and a child with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder? Distinctions between the outer bounds of “normal” and “pathological” are ubiquitous in modern life and not easy to make. People who experience loss respond in different ways, with varying degrees of intensity, and for different lengths of time. Mental health professionals find these responses difficult to predict. For example, leaders in the bereavement field have disagreed sharply and for a long time about how to define normal and abnormal grief. This professional disagreement about grief and bereavement made headlines when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) considered changing its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Every fifteen to twenty years, the APA revises the DSM—which establishes the criteria clinicians use to diagnose psychiatric disorders—to incorporate the latest scientific research and contemporary expert opinion. Before the most recent edition (DSM-5) came out, the APA considered two grief-related proposals that sparked very heated debate. The most controversial proposal suggested modifying how professionals diagnose major depression. The previous edition of the DSM specified that clinicians could not consider someone to have major depression if that person had lost a loved one less than two months earlier. The APA intended this “bereavement exclusion” to keep mental health professionals from mistaking grief for clinical depression. Clinical researchers Sidney Zisook, MD, at the University of California at San Diego and Katherine Shear, MD, at the Columbia University School of Social Work led one side of the debate. They argued that professionals should diagnose clinical depression even in the context of bereavement as they would following any other stressful life event such as divorce or the loss of a job. Zisook and Shear thought that people could experience both grief and depression simultaneously. Perhaps most importantly, they said, people who had clinical depression during early bereavement were no less deserving of treatment for their depression.

Download Full-text

THE CHALLENGES OF SCHOOL-BASED YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION: EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS

SOUTHERN AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ◽

10.25159/2415-5829/776 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 20-44

Author(s):

Maryke Woolf ◽

Jason Bantjes ◽

Ashraf Kagee

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Health Care ◽

South African ◽

Suicide Prevention ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Suicidal Behaviour ◽

School Based

Youth suicidal behaviour poses a significant public health concern. Mental health care professionals working in schools have an important role to play in youth suicide prevention initiatives, although little is known of the experiences of this group of professionals in low and middle income countries (LMIC’s). The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of mental health professionals working in South African schools and to document their insights, attitudes and beliefs regarding youth suicidal behaviour. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven school-based mental health care professionals and data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Participants reported that they relied on a reactive strategy by responding to youths who were in crisis. They were challenged by a lack of support from faculty staff, a lack of access to resources, and heavy caseloads. Findings highlight the need for a proactive and collaborative approach to suicide prevention among mental health care professionals, teachers and parents in South African schools and improved training and supervision.

Download Full-text

The Early Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health Facilities and Psychiatric Professionals

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18158034 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (15) ◽

pp. 8034

Author(s):

Jade Gourret Baumgart ◽

Hélène Kane ◽

Wissam El-Hage ◽

Jocelyn Deloyer ◽

Christine Maes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Psychiatric Care ◽

Care Delivery ◽

Work Processes ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Individual Interviews ◽

Novel Coronavirus

(1) Background: While in many countries, the psychiatric and mental health sectors had been in crisis for years, the onset of a novel coronavirus pandemic impacted their structures, organizations, and professionals worldwide. (2) Methods: To document the early impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis on psychiatry and mental health sectors, a systematic review of the international literature published in 2020 was conducted in PubMed (MEDLINE), Cairn.info, and SantéPsy (Ascodocpsy) databases. (3) Results: After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 72 articles from scientific journals were selected, including papers documenting the early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organization of psychiatric care delivery, work processes in psychiatry and mental health units, and personal experiences of mental health professionals. This review identified the contributions aimed at preventing the onset of mental disorders in the early stages of the health crisis. It lists the organizational changes that have been implemented in the first place to ensure continuity of psychiatric care while reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. It questions the evolution of the rights and duties of mental health professionals in the first months of the pandemic. (4) Discussion and conclusions: Although this literature review exclusively documented the early impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis, it is of significant interest, as it pictures the unprecedent situation in which psychiatry and mental health care professionals found themselves in the first stages of the pandemic. This work is a preliminary step of a study to be conducted with mental health professionals on an international scale—the Psy-GIPO2C project—based on more than 15 group interviews, 30 individual interviews, and 2000 questionnaires. The final aim of this study is to formulate concrete recommendations for decision-makers to improve work in psychiatry and mental health.

Download Full-text

Patient Centered Professionalism? Patient Participation in Mental Health Professional Frameworks

Professions and Professionalism ◽

10.7577/pp.1474 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. e1474 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aukje Leemeijer ◽

Margo Trappenburg

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Health Care ◽

Social Workers ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Patient Participation ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Codes Of Conduct ◽

Patient Centered

Patient participation is an important development in Dutch mental health care. Notwithstanding a generally positive attitude towards patient participation, mental health professionals show ambivalent responses to it due to tensions that may occur between professional values and societal values like (more) patient participation. Professionals vary in their degree of professionalization which is translated to their formal professional frameworks like professional profiles and codes of conduct. To explore how formal professional frameworks of mental health professionals mirror how and to what degree they accommodate patient participation the professional frameworks of four types of mental health care professionals were studied: psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers. We hypothesized that the higher professionalized professions were less open to patient participation. The results partly support this hypothesis. Professional frameworks of social workers and nurses indeed show more openness to patient participation, but the picture for psychiatrists and psychologists is ambiguous—more professionalized psychiatrists being more inclined to incorporate patient participation than less professionalized psychologists.

Download Full-text

Attitudinal Barriers Hindering Adoption of Telepsychiatry among Mental Healthcare Professionals: Israel as a Case-Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182312540 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (23) ◽

pp. 12540

Author(s):

Tamir Magal ◽

Maya Negev ◽

Hanoch Kaphzan

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Mental Healthcare ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Modern Medicine ◽

Widespread Application ◽

Attitudinal Barriers ◽

Organizational Affiliation

Despite proven advantages for the use of telemedicine in psychiatry, mental healthcare professionals have shown deep-seated mistrust and suspicion of telepsychiatry, which hinders its widespread application. The current study examines the attitudes of Israeli mental health professionals towards telepsychiatry and seeks to uncover the effects of experience and organizational affiliation on its adoption. The methodology included qualitative and thematic analysis of 27 in-depth interviews with Israeli mental health professionals, focusing on three major themes—clinical quality, economic efficiency, and the effects on the work–life balance of healthcare professionals. The attitudes of mental health professionals were found to be widely divergent and sharply dichotomized regarding different aspects of telepsychiatry and its suitability for mental healthcare services. However, there was a general consensus that telemedicine may not fulfil its promise of being a panacea to the problems of modern public medicine. In addition, attitudes were related to hierarchical position, organizational affiliation, and personal experience with telepsychiatry. Specifically, organizational affiliation influenced experience with and support for the assimilation of telepsychiatry. The study also revealed the role of organizational leadership and culture in promoting or inhibiting the proliferation and adoption of innovative technologies and services in modern medicine.

Download Full-text

Health Professionals’ Recognition of Co-Occurring Alcohol and Depressive Disorders in Youth: A Survey of Australian General Practitioners, Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Mental Health Nurses Using Case Vignettes

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1080/00048670701579090 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 41 (10) ◽

pp. 830-835 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Dan I. Lubman ◽

Leanne Hides ◽

Anthony F. Jorm ◽

Amy J. Morgan

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Young People ◽

Mental Disorder ◽

General Practitioners ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Alcohol Misuse ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Mental Health Nurses

Objective: To examine whether health professionals who commonly deal with mental disorder are able to identify co-occurring alcohol misuse in young people presenting with depression. Method: Between September 2006 and January 2007, a survey examining beliefs regarding appropriate interventions for mental disorder in youth was sent to 1710 psychiatrists, 2000 general practitioners (GPs), 1628 mental health nurses, and 2000 psychologists in Australia. Participants within each professional group were randomly given one of four vignettes describing a young person with a DSM-IV mental disorder. Herein is reported data from the depression and depression with alcohol misuse vignettes. Results: A total of 305 psychiatrists, 258 GPs, 292 mental health nurses and 375 psychologists completed one of the depression vignettes. A diagnosis of mood disorder was identified by at least 83.8% of professionals, with no significant differences noted between professional groups. Rates of reported co-occurring substance use disorders were substantially lower, particularly among older professionals and psychologists. Conclusions: GPs, psychologists and mental health professionals do not readily identify co-occurring alcohol misuse in young people with depression. Given the substantially negative impact of co-occurring disorders, it is imperative that health-care professionals are appropriately trained to detect such disorders promptly, to ensure young people have access to effective, early intervention.

Download Full-text